I actually like the smooth look of just letting a video camera run. Because there is no "true" shutter, the frames blend into each other, which produces a more natural time-lapse. This is not feasible for shots longer than a few hours though.
For longer shots, the "drive stop shoot" mode is better as it simply moves the hardware a little, stops, and then engages the shutter release on a camera, taking one single frame. This is great for doing super long time lapse shots like watching a plant grow over a week, or time lapsing a building going up.
Stop shoot also requires extremely accurate motor positioning, which is why I am going with large steppers for all three axis on this little hack project. With the dead reckoning ability of this system, it could theoretically stay in one place and travel the 5 foot slider distance over an entire year!
I am really going to bend some time with this rig... should be super fun to watch the resulting footage.
Brad